SOUTHERN BULGARIA
Top places to visit:
Rila monastery
It can briefly describe as a combination monumental architecture a rich history. It was founded in the X century by Ivan Rilski and used to be the primary spiritual and cultural center of Bulgaria and the whole orthodox enclave. The library contains 16000 volumes including 134 manuscripts from l5th to 19th century, numerous incunabula and documents. The monastery's unquestionable authority influenced the Turkish sultans who confirmed the rights granted by the Bulgarian kings by special firmans. Retaining the names of the donors and the exact date of donation, they represent an original chronicle of the national consciousness, of those pure patriotic feelings and hopes which were inspired throughout centuries in every Bulgarian by the Rila Monastery - the country's largest spiritual and cultural temple.
Melnik
Bulgaria's smallest town is huddling among frozen sandstones pyramids immobile for millennia, 190km south of Sofia. Thracians, Romans and Byzantines have written its history. Trace of it is preserved in unique monuments of old architecture, some of which are of national significance. Melnik's houses are spacious, with wide eaves and towers, high stained glass windows, carved ceilings and large cellars here the famous Melnik wine matures. A single street leads to the finest example of the forms splendor of this small southern town. The Kordopoulos House - with Venetian stained glass windows, spacious rooms and salons, ornamental murals, weaves and fretwork, a wrought iron gate and large wine-cellar from which caravans with the famous Melnik wine once left for Salonika, Athens, Vienna, Rome, and even Marseille and Spain.
Phenomenon Melnik Pyramids
The pyramids of Melnik are rocky formations (earth pyramids) in the south-western peripheral slopes of the Pirin mountain. They are located in the surroundings of the town of Melnik. These magnificent natural sculptures are outlined in various forms and shapes, looking like haystacks, Egyptian pyramids, Gothic temples, minarets, ancient towers and loop-holes, giant obelisks, rising jumpers with incredible resemblance to colossal stone mushrooms.
Rozhen monastery
Situated far to the south in the Pirin area, 6 km from Melnik, this is the only monastery restored during the first centuries of Ottoman rule which has survived to this day. The present-day appearance of this old monastery (built by the Melnik ruler, despot Slav, during the 12th or 13th century) dates back to the 16th century. Rozhen Monastery owes its fame above all to its carved iconostases and lecterns. Some of them are extremely complicated compositions, both in intent and in actual execution, in which Biblical themes have given full scope to boundless imagination which reached the peaks of decorativeness. Rozhen Monastery has left us with a treasure in yet another art - that of calligraphy. A unique work of the calligraphic school, which existed here as early as in the 14th century, is the manuscript "Interpretation of Jonah", taken in 1674 from the Constantinople Patriarch Dositheusm, and kept today in the Holy Grave Church in Jerusalem.
Bansko
The newest Bulgarian winter resort, recently discovered by the foreign tourists. Bansko provides an interesting combination between the virgin nature of Pirin Mountain and the atmosphere of the ancient Bulgarian small town. Bansko ski resort is situated in Southwestern Bulgaria, at the foothills of one of the most beautiful Bulgarian mountains - Pirin, which is a national preserve, included in the WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE list. The Holy Trinity Church in Bansko Built in 1835 the Holy Trinity Church with its fine belfry and clock tower constitutes the very heart of Bansko. It is also famous for its collection of icons and murals painted by local Bansko artists who once made the Bansko School of Painting one of the best in Bulgaria.
Interesting Events:
- International Jazz Festival in Bansko, 8 – 13 August
- Opera Festival in Bansko, end of August